The Billygoats

[jackthemariner]

1. FC Köln - Die Geißböcke (The Billygoats)

FC Köln, the first ever Bundesliga winners (63/64) and 1985 European finalists are tragically are now more like a yoyo club. In real life, they recently won the 2. Bundesliga so will be in the top division again once the season begins (25/26). I, however, will be using the updated FM24 database, so the team is already in the Bundesliga and the squad will more closely resemble what it looked like when FM24 was released.

Strangely, a goat has been brought to each home game since 1950 (all called Hennes), hence the badge. Sometimes, the club even used to travel to away games with Hennes! I can't imagine the smell on the team bus...

For some reason, whenever I have played with German teams, I just can't make it work. I've had huge failures with Dortmund, Leverkusen, Wolfsburg, and Hamburg... Let's hope that this time is different!

Manager

I used the suggested experience and badges for a FC Koln (continental licence A).

Goals:
1. Stop the yo-yo (don't get relegated, establish ourselves as a Bundesliga team)
2. Win a major German trophy
3. Reach a European final

Optional:
1. Have a player called Hennes in the first team (ideally with a goatee)

Philosophy:
1. Sign players with a focus on value for money (moneyball-inspired, but won't be going into that amount of detail)
2. Have a squad of players that mostly reflects the demographics of Cologne (most non-German nationals in Cologne are Turkish, Italian, Ukrainian, Polish and Iraqi)
3. Play high-tempo football, get the ball up the pitch quickly and be physical

Let's see what are we dealing with here...

Squad (July 17th, 2023)

Goalkeepers

Happy with that. Schwabe will make a good starting goalkeeper for this level and we have a 2.5 star backup. Kobbing will be used in absolute emergencies. I should probably check the reserves for a 3rd choice keeper, just in case.

Defenders

Hubers and Chabot will start, there's decent depth and talent here. Maybe could do with another CB, as Martel will mostly play in midfield. We will look to sell Hoger.

Midfielders

Lots of energy in the centre of midfield, Kainz looks like a great option out wide. A little lacking in quality on the right of midfield and missing a reliable creative option in the centre.

Forwards

Selke is the clear starting choice, especially considering the long term injuries, taking away Uth and Thielmann for up to 2-3 months. He's tall, strong and suits the pressing forward role. Until Uth gets back from injury, we will be pretty short on backup options. Dietz has transfer interest but will stay until we get another forward. Adamyan is 3rd choice at best and is taking up massive wages, will look to sell him as soon as possible. Waldschmit will start at attacking midfield.

Overall, I'm pretty pleased with the starting squad, there's a nice variety of age groups and skill levels. We definitely need some depth in the forward areas, but we should be able to make this work.

Tactics

This will be the main tactic to start of with, I didn't change too much from the suggested instructions FM gives you when you select fluid counter-attack. Hopefully, this will get the ball out to the wingers pretty quickly and catch the opposition out of shape, while keeping the back line back enough to guard against counter attacks and restrict any space. We'll use the friendlies to see how well this works and make changes.

Staff
For some reason, we started with 4 fitness coaches, so I got rid of two. We also had 2 assistant managers, but they can coach across different areas, so they can stay for now. We're looking for a set piece coach, some coaches to take general training, and some more scouts.

What to do next

Set up scouting networks to across Europe, to begin, we'll look across central, west and south-east Europe for any first team players. We'll sift through their initial suggestions for any gold. In particular, we are looking for a deep-lying playmaker with a good physical profile, and a pacy right winger that can cross. Any depth beyond that would be helpful.

This is my first ever post on here, I'd appreciate any feedback and tips to help make this as enjoyable for you (and me) as possible!

Take care.

 

[jackthemariner]

Pre-season, Key Players and Transfer Struggles

So, having set up a basic tactic with a counter-attacking focus, we played our 6 preseason games.

Overall, we were really threatening going forward, but not so clinical (despite scoring plenty of goals). One match which illustrates this in particular was the 2-2 draw at home to Brentford. We absolutely hammered them in the first half, but couldn't find a way to put the ball past Flekken, who made a penalty save. I was very concerned by how easily they were able to score once they got into our half.

Thankfully, the boys switched on in the second half and managed to rescue a draw, goals coming via a screamer from Selke and from a corner. I would have preferred our goals to come from our the opportunities created in open play, but I guess that is what preseason is for!

In terms of the tactics, we seemed really passive on the ball and allowed the opposition to run at us too much, so I brought up the defensive line and removed the Drop Off instruction. I also added the Distribute to Flanks instruction as I think it might help us get up the pitch a little more quickly.

Key Players

Some key players have emerged through this pre-season, mostly in our midfield and attack. Kainz is a super well-rounded player who I am now playing off the left hand side becuase of his crossing ability, but if we can't find a good playmaker, perhaps I might have to use him in the centre and play someone else out wide. At the minute, the hope is he finds Selke, a 195cm unit of a man who I will be relying on to score the goals this year.

Ljubicic has so much energy and gets involved in attack and defense, for me, he starts and BWM (might swap to BBM) every game he is available. He keeps Martel out of his preferred position, who is now covering at DLP until I get a better option. One thing I'm wondering is, if I'm asking the GK to distribute to the flanks, do I really need a DLP in the centre of midfield? Or could I have two physical midfielders who get about the pitch a lot and get involved in each phase of the game? Perhaps I should have experimented more with this during pre-season!

Transfer Struggles

It has been super hard getting in players to improve the team. We began with around 600k in transfer budget and 22k per week in wage budget. Even after getting rid of a load of deadwood, we only have 2.5 million to spend and 38k per week. I'd rather get one or two high-quality players in to improve the team in key positions, rather than squad options. That being said, we were pretty light in the CAM area, so I got in Roberto Soriano on a free as backup to Waldschmidt. Considering Kainz will be out wide or at CM, we can't rely on him to cover in case of injury.

Coming up is our first competitive game against FCA Walldorf, a semi pro team, in the DFB Pokal, before taking on Borussia Dortmund away in our first Bundesliga game (nice easy start, then).

I'd appreciate your thoughts and feedback, hope you are enjoying it so far!

Take care.